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Food Science and Technology News : December Highlights

Congratulations to Dr. Phil Minerich on receiving a 2019 CFAES Distinguished Alumni Award. He received his BS in Food Science from OSU in 1976 and will be will be honored at the CFAES Alumni Awards Luncheon on March 2nd at the Fawcett Event Center in Columbus.

The Wilbur A. Gould Food Industries Center (FIC), led by Dr. Valente B. Alvarez, Steven Simmons, and Heather Bell, was selected by the FDA among land grant universities in the country to offer the course “FD152 Food Processing & Technology” for the next four years to train Federal, State, local and tribal investigators/inspectors to conduct regulatory inspections. The course is a part of the manufactured food curriculum of the FDA Office of Training Education and Development (OTED). The 4 ½ day course provides an overview of the basic principles in food processing, technology, and awareness of associated equipment used to ensure the safety of manufactured foods.

Dr. Ahmed Yousef is a Co-PI on a JESOR project “Inducing the production of the paenibacillin bacteriocin by environmental stress conditions” that has received funding from the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology. JESOR is Joint Collaborative Efforts of Egyptians Expatriates & Scientific Organizations Towards tackling R&D challenges.

Dr. Barbara Kowalcyk’s comments regarding the sterility of lab grown products were included in an article about the livestock industry and the labeling of fake meat in Ag Week. Dr. Kowalcyk was also quoted in the Pacific Standard regarding this year’s number of reported foodborne illnesses.

Through Dr. Abby Snyder’s USDA Food Safety Outreach Program grant the Food Industries Center collaborated to offer a "Food Safety Document Development Workshop for Small Food Processors" in December. This workshop provided a hands-on opportunity for processors to develop their food safety documentation as well as complete their qualified facility FDA attestations.

Dr. V.M. (Bala) Balasubramaniam was an invited presenter/panelist as a part of the Food Innovation and Engineering (Foodie) conference in California organized by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Dr. Bala gave an update on the current status of high pressure based technologies in the food industry and contributed to a panel discussion on industrial implementation of innovative food processing technologies in the food industry.

Congratulations to post-doctoral researcher Dr. Hardy Castada who was recognized as a finalist for outstanding research on "Rapid detection of toxic hydrogen cyanide in Macadamia using Selected Ion Flow Tube-Mass Spectrometry" at Ohio State's 13th Annual International Scholar Research Exposition.

The 19th annual State FFA Food Science Contest was recently held in the Parker Food Science and Technology Building. This portion of the contest included 76 high school students from 19 schools at the state level. The superintendents of the contest are FST alumni Jenny Guilford and Anna Schmenk of SensoryEffects, and Maria Ruhlman, of the Kellogg Company. The volunteer efforts where spearheaded by FST undergraduate Phillip Eberly with many food science students helping to put on this event. The top four scoring students receive scholarships to attend OSU.